Stewart Christopher Littlewood (7 January 1905 – 2 February 1977) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

centre-forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

for Holmfield Mission, Hardwich Colliery,

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

Matlock Town Matlock Town Football Club is a association football, football club based in Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock, Derbyshire, England. Nicknamed 'the Gladiators', they are currently members of the and play at Causeway Lane. History The club was esta ...

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

, Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, and

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

Career

Early career

Littlewood played for Holmfield Mission and Hardwich Colliery, before he joined of the

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

in January 1924. Having failed to make a first-team appearance for the "Spireites", he returned to

non-League football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

with

. He gained another chance in the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...

with

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

side

in January 1925, but left Hillsborough at the end of the 1924–25 season without featuring in a first-team game. He signed with

in July 1925 and scored two goals in six

Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

games, before his release at the end of the 1925–26 season. He had a trial at

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfr ...

in October 1926.

Port Vale

Littlewood signed with

following a trial period in November 1926. He scored a brace on his debut at

Clapton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profess ...

on Christmas Day 1926, but only made one further

appearance in the 1926–27 campaign. He scored 55 in goals in 33

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

games in the 1927–28 season. However, he had to battle out-of-form club legend

Wilf Kirkham Wilfred Thomas Kirkham (26 November 1901 – 20 October 1974) was an English footballer who holds four goalscoring records at Port Vale. His 153 league goals and 164 goals in all competitions are both records, as his tally of 38 goals in the ...

for a first-team place, and was limited to just seven first-team games despite scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

past

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

. He hit nine goals in ten appearances at the start of the 1928–29 campaign, including a hat-trick past

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

Oldham Athletic

Littlewood was transferred to Second Division side

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

, in exchange for

Albert Pynegar Albert Pynegar (24 September 1895 – 1978) was an English footballer who played at inside-forward for Eastwood Rangers, Sutton Town, Leicester City, Coventry City, Oldham Athletic, Port Vale, Chesterfield, and Rotherham United. He helped Por ...

and £1,300, in January 1929. He finished as the "Latics" top-scorer in 1928–29 and 1929–30 with 12 and 30 goals respectively, helping the

Boundary Park Boundary Park is a football stadium in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. Its name originates from the fact that it lies at the northwestern extremity of Oldham, with Royton and Chadderton lying immediately north and west respectively. Bound ...

club to finish just two points off the

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

places in 1929–30.

Return to Port Vale

He was re-signed by new Port Vale

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Tom Morgan for a then- club record fee of £1,550, and scored twice in ten appearances towards the end of the 1930–31 season. He was limited to 13 games in the 1931–32 campaign, scoring five goals. He scored ten goals in 13 games in 1932–33, with his contribution limited after he was forced to undergo surgery to repair

cartilage Cartilage is a resilient and smooth type of connective tissue. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints as articular cartilage, and is a structural component of many body parts including the rib cage, the neck an ...

damage on a twisted

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

. A club record six of his goals came in one match on 24 September, in a 9–1 thrashing of

The Old Recreation Ground The Old Recreation Ground was a football stadium located in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and home to Port Vale F.C. from 1913 to 1950. It was the sixth ground the club used. Structure and facilities The stadium was in rather bad conditio ...

Later career

He was transferred to Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic of the

in July 1933. Injury restricted him to 18 league games, during which he scored 11 goals, and he was released from

Dean Court Dean Court, currently known as the Vitality Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England and the home ground of AFC Bournemouth. History In 1910, Boscombe F.C. was gi ...

at the end of the 1933–34 season. He signed with

Cheshire County League The Cheshire County League was a football league founded in the north west of England in 1919, drawing its teams largely from Cheshire, surrounding English counties and North Wales. Initially the league was dominated by the reserve teams of Footba ...

side

in July 1934. His injuries left him with restricted mobility, but he still managed to score 100 goals in 111 league and cup appearances. During his three seasons at

Moss Lane Moss Lane (currently known as the J. Davidson Stadium for sponsorship purposes) is a multi-purpose stadium in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, England. It is currently used primarily for football matches and is the home ground of Altrincham. The ...

he scored seven goals in a 9–0 FA Cup win over Moulton Verdon, hit four goals in games against

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adop ...

Reserves,

Nantwich Town Nantwich Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. The club was founded in 1884 and is nicknamed ''The Dabbers'', a reference to the town's tanning industry. They currently compete in and play ...

and

Hyde United Hyde United Football Club is a semi-professional football club in Hyde, Greater Manchester, England. Formed in 1919, they were renamed Hyde F.C. between 2010 and 2015 as part of a sponsorship deal with Manchester City.Ashton National,

Prescot Cables Prescot Cables Football Club is a supporter-owned football club based in Prescot, Merseyside. It was established in 1884 and has also been known as Prescot and Prescot Town. They compete in the and play their home games at Valerie Park. They ...

, Willaston and

Winsford United Winsford United Football Club are a football club based in Winsford, Cheshire, England. The club was founded in 1883 and are nicknamed ''The Blues''. The club is currently a member of the , with home matches played at The Barton Stadium. Thei ...

. After leaving the "Robins", he had one final injury-plagued season with

Northwich Victoria {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

Style of play

Littlewood was a

with pace and excellent finishing skills, equally adept with both feet.

Career statistics

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Littlewood, Stewart 1905 births 1977 deaths Footballers from Rotherham English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Chesterfield F.C. players Matlock Town F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Altrincham F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players English Football League players